i have something i liked to say to all the users of this forum i have notice that every time we talk about ethics it can get a little nasty . i have nothing against talking about ethics and i enjoy it but when you are going to respond i wish you would read your post and see how you would like to have someone respond to you in that way . remember GOD made us all imperfect and to love and respect our fellow turkey hunter[;)] wayne

If icedturkeys doesn't use a blind to hunt then so be it, it doesn't make him a better hunter

If knowing how to use the natural surroundings and shadows to conceal yourself, knowing how to sit still and knowing how and when to move when game is close is not part of being a "effective hunter", than by all means you are correct..

WOW! What a bloody mess this thread morphed into.
JPH is right. Why can't we have a civilized disscussion without it turning into a name calling, finger pointing subject?
What do you think a new hunter that just killed a turkey out of a blind would think if he/she wandered onto this thread?
Here they are, thinking of what an accomplishment this was only to see that killing one out of a blind just lessened what they did in some peoples eyes.
We not only have a responsibility to stand united with each other, but a responsibility to our future hunters.
I killed my first 2 turkeys out of a blind. My 3rd was as I was leaned against a tree.
I morphed into a better hunter because of it. I had early success, and this encouraged me to try something different and push myself to get out there one-on-one with the birds, and out of the blind.
I still use a blind on a rainy day, or if my son is with me.
I don't like them, because it limits my abilities as a predator, so I stay out of them unless they will prolong my day in the woods.
Not trying to be holier than thou, just some observations I made.

Perhaps somebody could clue me in as to why hunting blinds are considered unethical. I've got a pop-up, and it's stayed in the closet for most of its life; it's bulky, it's heavy, it is confining. If anything, I'd say it was a hindrance more than anything. About the only thing I've found it to be good for is long periods of rain, but now that I've got this:

Midway Phoenix

. . . I really don't need the pop-up.

So here's what I'm getting at: I'm out there hunting the Mother of All Honey Holes (MOAHH) One end of the field has the blind in the pic. Another end of the field has my best natural blind--basically some fallen logs and an old stump. Somewhere about halfway between is another blind that is just a few dead cedars pulled in front of a large oak. Just for conversation, let's say I have my pop-up blind stationed elsewhere overlooking the same field. I know for a fact the turkeys are going to be in that field on a regular basis, or over in the next field or in the treeline in between-- somewhere close by at least. Are some of y'all trying to say that if I'm in one spot or the other, I'm somehow less a turkey hunter?

See, the way I see it, just finding MOAHH is key here. How I hunt it is rather immaterial. If I'm dead nuts certain that I'm going to have turkeys close by most mornings, that's just about all there is to it. It doesn't make any difference if I go sit with my back to a stump or wear a ghillie suit or put up a pop-up blind, it's the scouting and woodsmanship that got me there that counts-- that and maybe the calling.

This season I was blessed with many many boons that far outweighed the fact that I didn't fill any of my own tags. I called in two for SuperCore, one was a mature male we got in the rain hunting out of Midway Phoenix. The other was from MOAHH, and it was taken in what you might call "classic" circumstances. There were another two that I Lil' Angus bring in during during Yute Season. However, the two great shining moments of my season happened weeks before the Opener. In one instance, I brought in a turkey for SuperCore with nothing more than shifting my weight in the leaves. The crown jewel: sitting out in the open, sipping my morning coffee with 10 gobblers strutting for me, three as close as 5 yards. I had to sit stock still for a half hour, and I was so cramped that I had to crawl away when it got time to get up and leave. But guys! Honest, it's all turkey hunting.

One other thing, before I get onto my chores: I can't figure out why some folks seem to have this problem with lumping everything together and trying to ascribe all that is bad in the world to one act of hunting that is not to their taste. On this forum we sometimes have a hard time talking about pop-up blinds. Some folks want to talk about this in a pop-ups-decoys-bait-in-bedsprings-Islamo-Fascist-babycrushing-Martians-eating-my-brain sort of way that sort of lumps all they see evil into the world as one gestalt. I think it would be a more constructive approach to try and be a bit more granular.

It looks like you have gang related activities and graffetti going on in your hunting area and your blind may be a hangout for them... be careful.......By the way, your blind looks like it might make it difficult to move on a bird..or maybe it has wheels I can't see?

Those be ceremonial drawings of the great peoples of the Northern Kentucky clan and regions. The drawings denote this is a sacred temple of their high Shaman. They are sacrificial people demanding animal killings in the spring and fall of each great period of the sun and moon. If you look to the far right edge you see a beheading log and to the far left is the tower of the high Priest where he makes declarations to all who dwell in his land. I learned this because my daughter is an archaeology major....I don't think the anthropology community is aware there is a remnant population still existing.

These people are most known for using sound logic and wisdom in times of great dispute and contention. Hence most of them were driven off or killt many years ago. The idea that people could live in peace without demeaning others and causing disruption was just an idea to ludicrous to allow.

If your really lucky you may happen upon them wearing those funny dress things and playin those funny musacal instruments and maybe even tossing a pole or two. Beyond good fortune is it for someone to be invited to there sacrifice ceremony. First you have to adopt a really cool new name like Supercore or something like that...All HAIL SHAMAN

Will Gobblerman work?....I have always wanted to be really cool...this could be my last chance!
Thanks for the clarification, Reverend E. I was beginning to think we were in a timewarp and had somehow gone back to early 2009.
Imagine my relief to see that this was all just a history lesson!

Those be ceremonial drawings of the great peoples of the Northern Kentucky clan and regions. The drawings denote this is a sacred temple of their high Shaman. They are sacrificial people demanding animal killings in the spring and fall of each great period of the sun and moon. If you look to the far right edge you see a beheading log and to the far left is the tower of the high Priest where he makes declarations to all who dwell in his land. I learned this because my daughter is an archaeology major....I don't think the anthropology community is aware there is a remnant population still existing.

These people are most known for using sound logic and wisdom in times of great dispute and contention. Hence most of them were driven off or killt many years ago. The idea that people could live in peace without demeaning others and causing disruption was just an idea to ludicrous to allow.

If your really lucky you may happen upon them wearing those funny dress things and playin those funny musacal instruments and maybe even tossing a pole or two. Beyond good fortune is it for someone to be invited to there sacrifice ceremony. First you have to adopt a really cool new name like Supercore or something like that...All HAIL SHAMAN

You know, I was pondering this subject over the past day. Sorry I couldn't get back sooner. SuperCore came by and we went out for lunch with two more of our old fart buddies-- long story there. The short of it is that Lil Angus got to see 4 incarnations of the Dos Equis Man sitting around expounding on Life, Love, and the Happiness of Pursuit. One is a ex-spy. One has a side business so black he cannot discuss it. One travels the world teaching free market economics to ex-communist regimes. Two were ex-paratroopers. One is contemplating his first jump at 74. One was a pilot with an eye patch from Vietnam. One was an ex-corporate VP. One ran off at 15 to go fight in Korea on the Pusan Perimeter. You had a marine, a sailor, and a spook. Then there was me and the kid-- a turkey hunter and a bagpiper. In the middle of it all the ex-VP got hit on by a divorcee, and the pilot with the eye patch got her email address-- the ex-VP is dating a Ukranian bombshell that's 30 years his junior and wasn't interested.

. . . but I digress.

It occurred to me as I was pondering this yesterday that your hunting situation dictates a lot of this. For instance, if you are the kind of turkey hunter that ranges over vast areas of public land the idea of a pop-up must seem like the stupidest thing on Earth. I can't imagine trying to schlep mine over the stuff I used to try and cover when I hunted places like the Big South Fork and Dan'l Boone NF. Yikes. I can also imagine coming on some snerd 100 yards from the road set up in one of those goofy things-- I'd have laughed my ass off.

Then you've got my situation at the farm. It would be an out-and-out lie if I sat here and wrote that what I do is like that. The turkeys know me. I know the turkeys. I know where they roost, feed, loaf, dust and procreate. I probably shot their grandfathers. It doesn't make it any easier, because familiarity goes both ways. They know my calls; they know where I hide. I've even caught them peering into my empty blinds to see if I'm there. The challenge is trying to catch them off guard. In those sorts of situations it doesn't really make a bit of difference if its a pop-up, a ring of cedar boughs, or just my back up against a tree. I have a neighbor that hunts nearly exclusively out of pop-ups. He'd tell you once they figure out what that big thing is over in the weeds, they get real shy. It's really no difference.

BTW: The graffiti you see on the side of the blind at Midway is all self-inflicted. I was trying to come up with a camo pattern that would blend in. Finally, I just said to heck with it and painted what was in my heart. If you've been following things over at the D&DH forum, you'll know I'm sort of . . . well, I guess the charitable term is iconoclastic. The point is that I finally decided to paint hunters and deer on the sides of the blind. Lo and behold, the deer just don't care. Why is that? Some may ask why I even painted "HUNNERZ!" on the side with arrows pointing to where we sit. My answer: because deer can't spell.

Here's a picture of all four sides before they went up and got the finishing touches: